The Courage of a Lion
by InMySpace
Summary: Georgina Snape was not her father's daughter...or so she thought. Her courage and loyalty would be put to the test as the return of Voldemort sweeps through the wizarding world, calling those who were once loyal to him back to his side in hopes to regain the hold he once had, to finally put the muggles in their place.
1. Chapter 1

The world was blanketed in peaceful silence, the stars glittered and twinkled in their celestial brillants above the heads of many deep in slumber, unaware of the battle waging so close to what they believed was safe. The frail fabric of the wizarding world was being torn asunder under the sleeping noses of the ministry that swore to protect it. The-Boy-Who-lived had been right, Lord Voldemort had returned and now the ministry could not deny it any longer, the minister himself had seen him. The atrium was destroyed, rubble littered the cold black stoned floor of the ministry. Ministry workers that had just arrived gathered around the disaster, looking to each for an answer, for a reason other than what was settling in the pit of their stomachs. The world continued to sleep on in its blissful ignorance, a comfort which would be interrupted with the coming of the morning's post.

* * *

"Georgina..Georgina!" Lavender Brown was vigorously shaking a form buried in a red and gold coverlet. The mound groaned and stirred, sounding like a grumpy old lion. Up front the covers sat a girl with long brown hair with tangled loose curls, fair skin that resembled cream. She had a small yet long nose that was slightly hooked at the end that was being prodded by knuckle that was attached to long, slender fingers that was at moment rubbing one of her tired blue eyes. "What Lavender?" She said, quite annoyed with be awoken before she was ready. Lavender gave an exasberated huff before ripping the covers completely off of Georgina. Georgina gave a yelp from the sudden rush of cold air on her bare legs. She tried to grab the covers back but was unsuccessful. She slumped back into her pillows, glaring malevolently at Lavender, arms crossed tightly against her chest. "Isn't this Hermione's job, why isn't she annoying me this morning?" Lavender sat down on the bed, shoving a copy of the Daily Prophet into Georgina's hands. Her thin fingers wrapped themselves around the newspaper and there staring at her in bold letters, " _ **HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED RETURNS**_." Georgina scanned the first page, reading the article with a panic out loud. "In a brief statement Friday night, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned to this country and is active once more." She looked up at Lavender horror struck before returning to the article, reading the rest to herself. "...Albus Dumbledore, newly reinstated headmaster at Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardry, reinstated member of the International Confederation of Wizards and reinstated Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, was unavailable for comments the last night. He has insisted for the a year that You-Know-Who was not dead, as was widely hoped and believed, but recruiting followers once more for a fresh attempt to seize power. Meanwhile the Boy Who Lived….." The paper dropped from her hands. She turned her head, glancing over at Hermione's bed. It was neatly put together like had been the previous night, she thought that maybe she had gone on summer holiday early. "They were at the ministry…. That's why…" Georgina got up, quickly dressed without brushing her hair and left the dormitory. She escaped through the portrait hole and dashed to the infirmary.

There she saw Neville Longbottom, Harry, Ron and Ginny gathered around Hermione's bed listening to her read the Prophet. Each of them wore a look of exhaustion though the physical signs of their fight were mostly gone. Madam Pomfrey, Hogwarts matron and nurse had used her impeccable skill to remedy their ailments, at a glance you wouldn't have known they had been injured. Ginny, whose body was draped over Hermione's bed propped up on an elbow was the one who noticed Georgina hovering in the doorway. Her flaming hair gleamed in the late morning sun, reflecting onto her brother's matching hair as she waved. "All right Georgina?" The girl stepped closer to the hospital bed, smiling nervously at the group. "Hello, are you alright?" Hermione put down the paper in her hand as Georgina sat on the edge of the bed. "Well we could be a lot worse if you ask me, at least we made it out alive." Hermione's eyes darted to Harry who gave a pained look. "Well…" She began again, muttering to herself in the hopes Harry would go on not noticing. "Almost all of us." Hermione proceeded to tell Georgina about Harry's dream, about the Department of Mysteries, the prophecy, the battle with the death eaters and Lord Voldemort. Harry's face dropped as Hermione talked about Sirius. His fingers picked at the lint balls furiously that were on his pants. Georgina's heart hurt for the boy sitting across from her. To him, he had lost everything he ever wanted. The last thing he had close to family. He never considered his muggle Aunt, Uncle and cousin family, to him they were more like jailers than family. Her fingers reached out to touch Harry's hand. He retracted from her touch, moving his hand away. "I'm so sorry Harry…"  
"Yeah.."

There was a slight silence before a whimper in the corner broke it. There, in a bed at the far end of the room was a squat, toad-like woman with the bedsheets pulled all the way up to her chin, her bulging eyes darting around the room, her mousey brown hair was uncharastically mess. Ron, who had unwrapped another chocolate frog glanced over at her, shoveling the confection into his mouth, smirking. "If it's any consolation, seeing Umbridge like this does me some good. Whatever happened during her time with the centaurs has her really in a twist. Every time she hears a horse noise she gets jumpy." Ginny gave a horsey whinnie. Umbridge sprang upright before tumbling out of her bed and rolled under the bed, putting a pillow protectively over her head. They all looked at each other before laughing, even Harry couldn't help but laugh. The sound of their laughter mixed with Umbridge's squealing did not go unnoticed by Madam Pomfrey. She stormed into the room with a look of disapproval. " ! My patients need their rest and your presents is disruptive." Madam Pomfrey was trying to coax Umbridge out from under the bed with reassurance that the centaurs were not allowed on school grounds and that she was perfectly safe. As Madam Pomfrey helped Dolores Umbridge back into her bed, Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house swept into the infirmary with her robes billowing behind her. "I am glad to see everyone is on the mend." Her attention then fell on Georgina who was standing up to leave. "Professor Snape would like to see you in his office." The five of them gave Georgina sympathetic looks as Georgina turned and said her goodbyes before exiting the infirmary with an overwhelming reluctance.

The castle was very quiet which was unusual for a Sunday but the sunny sky and the pleasant weather was far too tempting for the students of Hogwarts. Most of the students were outside, enjoying the day as Georgina made her way down to the dungeon of the castle where Snape's office lurked in its bowels. She made her way down the dimly-lit hallway until she came to an old wooden door that had "" written in large silvery letters with the Slytherin emblem next to it. Georgina knocked on the door and a flat, monotone "Enter" replied. She pushed open the door and entered. The room was gloomy and dimly-lit with shadowy walls lined with many shelves of large jars filled with slimy, revolting things floating in various liquids. At the center sat a tall, thin man with shoulder length greasy black hair hovering over his desk, writing on a piece of parchment. Georgina approached the desk cautiously, standing in front waiting for recognition. When a long period of silence passed between them she cleared her throat. "You wanted to see me professor?" Without looking up, Professor Snape answered, continuing to write. "You will be spending a few weeks at your Grandmother's before retiring to your usual summer residence with the Malfoy's." She groaned underneath her breath. She hoped with the recent demise of Lucius Malfoy that her relations with the Malfoys would have ended. She had forgotten the close friendship her father had with . She stepped closer to the desk, speaking carefully to the man in front of her. "Sir, is it possible for me to spend my whole summer with my grandmother?"  
"No."  
Georgina knew not to argue even though she'd very much like to. Snape folded the parchment, sealing it with red wax and handed to Georgina. "You will go to the owlery and send this letter to your grandmother without delay." She took the letter from him and looked at it before nodding. "Yes….Papa." Snape gave a disapproving glance before dismissing her. Georgina left the dungeons and headed towards owlery. It was no secret that Severus Snape had fathered a child outside of wedlock with the daughter from a pure blood family. How and when the child was conceived was unknown but the young lady died three days after giving birth, leaving the child in the care of her unprepared father. There was no love for the young woman for all the love Snape had was for another who herself gave birth to a son a month prior. The relationship between Severus and Georgina was strained, tense and uncomfortable. Most of her childhood she spent with her maternal grandmother who she loved and adored though her father governed most of her life. When she was old enough to start at Hogwarts she was then forced to spend her summer holidays with the Malfoy family which Snape was close to in hopes she would strike up a friendship with their son, Draco. That was another disappointment along with Georgina being sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin. She was the very opposite of Snape in both looks and personality.

She made her way to the top of the west tower where the owlery was. A large grey owl flew down from the rafters where it was perched and landed on Georgina's shoulder, clicking its beak in hopes to get a treat. "No Hermes, I gave you a treat yesterday. I have a letter for you to deliver to my grandmother." Hermes gave a grumpy hoot before sticking out his leg. Georgina tied the letter to his leg and carried him towards the window. He flew off into the blue sky and disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

Georgina stood in the owlery for a moment, watching the clouds floating lazily in the perfect sky wishing she could be one of those clouds. Suddenly, the door of the tower sprang open causing Georgina to let out a loud gasp as she jumped. She spun around to see a head covered in sleek white blonde hair poke out from the door. Draco Malfoy climbed the last step of the ladder with a letter tucked underneath his arm. He smirked at the startled expression on Georgina's face. "Did I scare you Snape? One would think you were sending secret messages by the way you jumped." He gave a low chuckle while holding his arm out for a tawny owl who swooped down and perched on his outstretched arm, holding out its leg for the letter to be tied to it. Georgina sneered at Draco. "If anyone would be suspected of sending secret letters it would be you Malfoy, on accounts of why your father was shipped off to Azkaban." The arrogant smirk disappeared from Draco's face and was replaced with a look of malice. He stepped closer to Georgina causing the owl to fly off his arm and towered over her.. She stepped towards him, the toes of their shoes touching as she peered up at him with a challenging look in her eyes. He stared at her for a hard minute, you would think he was just about to pick her up and throw her from the tower but instead, his smirk returned. Draco leaned in, taking two long fingers and pinched the end of Georgina's nose, whispering in a hushed voice. "You know, your father is cut from the same cloth as mine. Let's just hope Dumbledore's faith in him is enough to save him." Georgina backed up, forcing Draco to let go of her nose. She grimaced at him, while wiping her nose on her sleeve as if it had become dirty. She was just about to give him another snarky remark when his newly occupied fingers caught her jaw, forcing her face to draw closer to his. His cold grey eyes lingered as they stared into hers. Georgina became instantly uncomfortable, overwhelmed and paranoid. Her eyes darted from the trap door on the floor then back to him several times hoping no one would burst out of it and see them. She attempted to push him away, but Draco held onto her face tighter, forcing her to keep her head still. He leaned in, carefully, delicately resting his lips against her as he spoke in a rumbling whisper. "You're quite cute when you're angry. Do you know that?" Her face flushed. Draco gave a victorious smirk before parting his lips and kissed hers. She half way lost her senses, melting into the familiarity of his lips on hers. She would have completely lost herself in the moment if it hadn't been the sudden screeching of two barn owls fighting over a large, dead rat.

Georgina wiggled free, her face turning red as the scarlet stripes in her school tie and covered her mouth. She pushed Draco out of the way, rushing towards the trap door and flew down the ladder. She kept her mouth covered as she darted through the halls. Students moved aside, thinking she was sick by the way she kept her hand over her mouth. She only took it away when she halfway shouted the password at the Fat Lady to let her into the Gryffindor common room. Appalled at Georgina's tone, The Fat Lady was unleashing a verbal assault on the Snape girl as her portrait swung open but was completely disregarded. From the vertigo that Georgina was experiencing at the moment that she didn't hear her at all. Georgina ran up the stairs that led to the girls dormitory thankful is was empty and quickly shut the door. Breathless, panting as her back plastered itself against the she stood repeating to herself over and over, trying to soothe herself. "No one saw, I would know if somebody is only one way in and one way out. No one saw….. I hope." She made her way over to her bed and fell face first into her pillow, groaning into it.

It all started last summer. The summer where she went utterly mad. When they were children she utterly despised him, his school persona transferred over into the summer and many times she dreamed a hippogriff would swoop down and carry him away. It was only two summers ago when she started noticing a change in him. How he was at school was much different than how he was at home. He was calm, quiet. Unsure of himself at times. They spent many afternoons and evenings talking about how their fathers had their lives planned for them, how they had to live up to their expectations. Him more than her. Draco lived constantly under the cloud of his father's ideals not sure of what his was. They dreamed over those summer nights about what they would do, who they would be if they were allowed to lead the life they wanted. And through the comfort of knowing someone in the universe could understand, a romance grew,

But her feelings were conflicted. How could she feel anything for someone who acted so beastly most of the time? What was his true self? Was he just that, a beast? Or someone just trying to find where they stood in the world whether or not it is where their father is standing. It was all too complicated for Georgina and the little bit she did know about romance is that it should not be complicated. The girls dorm slowly began to fill up with girls coming back from their Sunday adventures, giggling and talking among themselves, going through their half packed trunks and grabbing a few things before going to the great hall for dinner. Georgina was happy none of them took much notice of her as she laid in her bed, soothing her flustered mind. Draco Malfoy would be her ruin she thought to herself as she finally got out of her bed and ventured out to grab some dinner in the great hall. Ron and Hermione were still in the hospital wing under the very watchful eye of Madam Pomfrey who insisted no one to disturb them for the duration of the evening. She was glad that it was only Harry, Neville and Ginny at the table. Harry was too busy glaring across the room as Draco to conversate much and Neville was reading a book on exotic, deadly plants. Ginny was talking to Luna who had snuck over from the Ravenclaw, indulging her in listening to Luna's theory on where Nargels reside when they are not floating around in somebody's head.

The sense of obligation to talk was missing from them and it was welcomed. Especially for Harry. He was not ready to talk about what happened, about his Godfather. They all sat in the comfort of silence, letting each others company be enough. For now.


End file.
